Women face giving birth alone as doulas blocked from accompanying them during labour

‘I thought they had changed the rules – but on the day I started having contractions, they said no,’ mother-of-two tells Maya Oppenheim

Charities warned doulas, a woman who is employed to help pregnant women going through labour, were being routinely barred from going into home births and maternity units (AFP/Getty)

Doulas are being blocked from accompanying pregnant women in the delivery room due to the coronavirus crisis – leaving some facing the prospect of giving birth alone.

Charities warned mothers-to-be could be needlessly traumatised because doulas – experts who help pregnant women in labour – are being routinely barred from home births and maternity units due to women only being allowed to have birthing partners from their same household.

It comes after The Independent reported pregnancy services in the UK were struggling under the strain of the outbreak, with some maternity units 30 or 40 per cent down on staff and substantial numbers of birth centres being turned into Covid-19 units.

Frontline service providers warn some home births are also being cancelled due to maternity units having staff off sick or self-isolating, while pregnancy support helplines are experiencing a massive spike in distressed pregnant women asking for urgent help. Birthrights, a maternity care charity, found enquiries to its advice line in March were up by 464 per cent compared with the same month last year.

Leila Baker, a director of Doula UK, which is the largest organisation of self-employed doulas in the country, told The Independent many trusts around the UK are blocking doulas from births because they are from a different household to the mother-to-be.

Ms Baker, a doula herself, said: “The national picture is generally only one birth partner is being allowed in with the woman. But it’s inconsistent. Some trusts say you can have a doula. Some trusts say you can’t have a doula even if they are your only birth partner.

“At the moment, most women are not having in person appointments for their antenatal care, so they might not have the opportunity to go through their birth plan. So it might come as a surprise to them when they turn up at the hospital with their doula and the staff turn the doula away, and they have to give birth without a birth partner. In some cases, women’s choice is being removed.

You feel that it is a breach of your rights... I was really counting on the doula’s expertise and support. Although my husband is amazing, he doesn’t have that knowledge and experience

“A lot of birth trauma does not necessarily stem from how it went, but from how you feel about how it went. If you feel like you were alone, it could cause you a lot of trauma afterwards. Flashbacks are one of the symptoms of birth trauma. A lot of women are feeling isolated. Coronavirus is a scary time, so their anxiety is exacerbated. If their partner is symptomatic with coronavirus then they don’t have that birth partner at all.

“When you are in labour, you are feeling especially vulnerable. It is important to have somebody with you that you trust. Although midwives are incredibly competent and supportive, it can be difficult to trust somebody you’ve never met before.”

Ms Baker said she has spoken to a doula in Nottinghamshire who was blocked from going into maternity units due to the rule that birthing partners have to come from the same household. She said similar restrictions are being implemented up and down the country, blocking doulas from attending home births – adding that this is a “substantial national problem”.

Maya, who did not want her last name to be used in the story, told The Independent she was left feeling anxious after being blocked from bringing a doula into her birth in April.

The mother-of-two, who lives in Kent, explained she wanted to have a doula because she did not have a positive experience during her first birth.

“We hired a doula in January because my husband was meant to stay at home with our son, while I would go to the hospital with my doula. My son is not very good with strangers so he wouldn’t stay with someone overnight,” she said.

“We have just moved. We are new to the area so there is nobody here to help us. The hospital announced they would not allow birth partners who are not from the same household. I emailed them about my doula and they never responded. I did speak to two midwives on the phone. They said I couldn’t bring my doula and I could only bring my husband and it was non-negotiable. The third person I spoke to said I could bring my doula, which was very confusing. At the time, I got excited. I thought they had changed the rules. On the day when I started having contractions, they said no.”

The 40-year-old, who previously worked as a commercial manager, said her sleep was affected by the refusal.

“You feel that it is a breach of your rights,” she said. “I disagree with the policy. They really shouldn’t be that harsh because not everyone can afford to find a babysitter for their children. It’s unfair on women who are single mothers. I was really counting on the doula’s expertise and support. Although my husband is amazing, he doesn’t have that knowledge and experience.”

Birthrights said they had complained to the trust, who told them they were reviewing their policy and would get back to them. They have not yet received a response.

Rebecca Schiller, founder and trustee of the human rights in childbirth charity, said: “Most doulas are not able to go into labour and support women. It would be hard to find the data because a lot of these policies are in flux and it’s a fast-paced ever-changing situation. Maternity units have different policies to each other and a lot of policies aren’t documented.

“Many women and their families choose to have a doula for a range of issues. For a woman and her partner, things have already been made much more difficult by coronavirus, so to then remove the person they have been relying on is a big disruption at a very important time.

“Especially for many women who perhaps have had a previously traumatic birth, have a history of trauma or sexual abuse, or who are not in a good relationship with their partner or ex-partner or family members or friends. Or even those relationships might be fantastic but they know their partner isn’t very good at emotional support so want a doula.”

Some NHS trusts had previously blocked women from having birthing partners in the wake of the coronavirus emergency but reversed this policy after guidance from leading healthcare professionals.

The chief medical officer has said all women expecting babies are in a vulnerable group and the NHS states pregnant women could be at higher risk from coronavirus and should be leaving home for very limited reasons.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives has told women there is no evidence to suggest pregnant women are at greater risk from Covid-19 and staying home is a “precautionary measure”.

An NHS spokesperson said: “It is important that visiting is restricted to help stop the spread of coronavirus, but our guidance is absolutely clear that a specific exception should be made for birthing partners when a woman is in labour.”